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T&T PM caught lying about Sabga report on abuse of Kids
sgtdjones
2022-05-18 22:41:26
T&T PM caught lying about Sabga report abuse of Kids
It is not surprising that Keith Rowley is focused on the Robert Sabga report commissioned 25 years ago rather than the Justice Jones report, outlining serious sexual and physical abuse occurring presently under the Children’s Authority.
This is clearly an attempt to deflect from the disclosure that high ranking PNM members were and are still involved in a paedophile ring.
The PNM is instead focused on smearing Robert Sabga and falsely claiming that the report produced by the Sabga led committee was somehow “buried”.
The idea that the report produced by Robert Sabga and the team was somehow a secretive document or was buried is a complete lie!
Minister Ramsaran has stated on Hansard that the Sabga Report was laid in Parliament. Rowley has been in parliament since 1987.
The Sabga report was referenced in 2002 by Independent Senator Ramesh Deosaran and Camille Robinson-Regis who are recorded in Hansard as saying;
Deosaran: “almost 5 years ago there was a report on children's homes, it is commonly called the Sabga Report. The gentleman who did the report under the then Ministry of Social Development was Mr Robert Sabga. I would suggest that the Minister look at that report carefully”.
Robinson-Regis: “In fact, that particular Sabga Report was used by the then Ministry of Social Development to examine all the issues as they related to the care of children. The issues that were raised in that report were very revealing in circumstances where our society had depended on a number of foster homes to ensure care for our young children and for children who had suffered abandonment by their families. That report did, in fact, inform quite a number of the policies that were developed during that period, especially as they related to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
Line Minister Manohar Ramsaran also referred to the report in June 2006 in the House of Representatives and is recorded in Hansard as saying:
“I remember when I first talked about the abuse of children reaching my ministry in this Parliament, the Member for Diego Martin East laughed and asked me if I was living somewhere in Mars. We appointed a committee which was headed by Dr Robert Sabga to investigate homes in this country, and that report is somewhere in the Parliament. It was laid in Parliament. When that committee visited homes, they found children were being abused and the managers of these homes tried everything to prevent the committee from going into these buildings. They almost went to court. I hurriedly went to the cabinet and appointed an inspector of homes who had the legal authority to visit these homes”
Despite PM's claim, Hansard shows PNM Govt knew of Sabga report
sgtdjones
2022-05-18 22:50:31
T&T Comments:
Claire Rostant
Instead of the Prime Minister and government ministers running their mouths in the press about investigations just do the investigations and expose and charge those responsible otherwise in three weeks this whole stink will be just another disgusting reality swept under the carpet for votes in the next election. This is obviously a very sick country so who is going to fix it? God? He's busy. You are in charge. Fix it. Stop the Ole Talk man, we fed up with that.It is a dereliction of Ministerial duty if innocent children in government funded institutions go unprotected therefore common sense dictates that the Minister in charge must face the brunt of public concern and tell this country why such acts occurred under the Ministers watch. Otherwise, we do not have a government that takes responsibility for its duty to protect the lives and purity of innocent children. Anything less than Ministerial accountability is unacceptable.
tide55
I did not return to live in T&T until 2004, so my question is: Was Kamla anywhere around in 1997 when this report was done? Was she in politics then? If she was, she is guilty as well, because as PM from 2010 to 2015, she should have done something about this during here administration.
Victor Newman
Arising from that 1997 report the following action was taken:-
The Children’s Authority Bill 1999
The Children’s Amendment Bill 1999
The Adoption of Children’s Bill 1999
The MiscelleNous Provision Children’s Bill 1999
The Children’s Community Residense and Foster Homes and Nurseries Bill 1999.
The Govt then didi their work. When the PNM came into Govt thereafter they shut down everything. When KPB was PM she did everything to help children including education, social services , children’s homes, sports, and more. The records are ther for those who want to see. The PNM neglected these children and the big question is why? Who is the high judicial official?
San Dan
It is entirely possible to know of the Report and not know of it's content. Deosaran must have had it, and probably still do. He could have shared a copy with Robinson-Regis.
Claude Gonzales
"Robinson-Regis acknowledged the existence of the report and told the Senate it was being used by the then government to inform policy."
Darren M. Kidar
All these abuse, molestation and sicko behavior took place when and under the majority of which government? I guess it was under NJAC and ONR.....becuase PNM supporters will not take off their blinders to accept the truth. There is an old old saying "What in the darkness will come to light". Mr. Rowley, all will be revealed and come to you so fast, you will not know what other excuse to come up with in time to defend. The Falling Tree and other excuses is already used.......lets hear what next.
I Mulligan
The PM is a liar. He spews lies and more lies. He is not a leader, but a poser. He lacks the moral fortitude, intellectual insight and simple lack of care to lead our people. He should be forced out of office...along with the rest of his gang of greedy pockets. Meanwhile, the entire Govt workforce needs an overhaul. This place is sick.
Raven Madoxx
Politicians lie, steal and waste tax dollars, but somehow I can tolerate all that, but I can't bring myself to accept they allow the torture of our children...
sgtdjones
2022-05-18 23:14:35
Sabga task force member on PM's call for police action – TOO LATE, DR ROWLEY
FORMER Independent Senator Diana Mahabir-Wyatt, who was a member of the task force which investigated children’s homes 25 years ago, is questioning the rationale behind the Prime Minister’s demand for the police commissioner to investigate that report.Speaking to Newsday in a telephone interview on Tuesday, Mahabir-Wyatt, a human rights activist, confirmed being a member of the Robert Sabga-led task force.On Dr Rowley's call to acting CoP McDonald Jacob to find a copy of the Sabga report, investigate it and bring those guilty to justice, Mahabir-Wyatt said she is willing to supply a copy of the report through her lawyer, if so requested.
However, up to Tuesday afternoon, she said she had not been contacted by anyone from the police or the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM). She showed Newsday her personal copy of the Sabga Task Force report.
The task force, chaired by Sabga and including Mahabir-Wyatt, Vasant Ramkissoon, Valerie Alleyne-Rawlins and Basdai Gayadeen-Catchpole, investigated nine children’s homes and uncovered neglect and abuse of the children, a paedophile ring, a system of “kick-backs” by “senior officials,” fraud and more.She believes the same problems keep recurring because of TT’s culture and politics.
“After a certain number of years have passed, you can no longer charge somebody with an offence. I don’t have the names, because the report I have does not include names, other than an allegation against one security guard who was said to have sexually abused children, and one particular nun who was being cruel and abusive,” Mahabir-Wyatt told Newsday.In an interview with i95.5 FM on Tuesday morning, Robert Sabga suggested that a “social media activist” for the People’s National Movement had a copy of the report. He too questioned the purpose behind Rowley's call for police action on a 25-year-old report, saying the PM should focus on fixing the problems that exist now regarding the care of TT's children, instead of “chasing ghosts.”At the same time, Sabga told the i95.5 FM reporter that the police already knew about the paedophile ring, describing it as one of the worst-kept secrets in TT, since there were many prominent and influential people involved.
TOO LATE, DR ROWLEY
sgtdjones
2022-05-19 04:22:16
High office holder linked to Akiel's case
An individual who was involved in a paedophile ring 25 years ago holds a very high office today and was also linked to the Akiel Chambers case, claims Robert Sabga, former chairman of the 1997 task force appointed to investigate children’s homes.The interviewer asked if it can be assumed they were active members of the People’s National Movement (PNM) government or party officials.
“I can neither confirm or deny...they say that time is longer than twine. One of the key individuals has now shuffled off his mortal coil, he’s gone; but one of the other key individuals still holds a very high position,” he said.“I cannot call names, but if you recall the story of the young boy who was buggered and who was drowned in a pool...,” he began, as he was interrupted when someone shouted the name “Akiel Chambers”.
Sabga continued, “The autopsy report on that boy went the same way as our report because the DNA of two of these individuals were found in his body at the time. I will say no more.”
High office holder linked to Akiel's case
From the buggery murder of Akiel Chambers, aged 11, last seen at a children's party in an upscale house in Maraval.Twelve hours after Akiel Chambers went missing, his schoolfriend Carrie James was bathing in the swimming pool at her Haleland Park, Maraval home, with two other friends. Carrie said the pool was clear and there was no body in it.
At the inquest into Akiel's death yesterday, Carrie said she got out of the pool, had breakfast and went to the front of her house to play. Ninety minutes later, police arrived at her house and one of the policemen looked into the pool and shouted "look, look, it right there." When Carrie looked, she saw Akiel's body in a crouched position floating in the deep end of the pool. She started to cry and her mother called her inside the house. Carrie was certain that when she was in the pool 90 minutes earlier, that body was not there. Carrie, 16, a student in Canada, flew into Trinidad to testify at the inquest into the death of 11-year-old Akiel Chambers who was found floating in the pool on May 24, 1998. The inquest is being heard before Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls, presiding as Coroner, at the Port-of-Spain Magistrates' Court.
Link Text
notinsular
2022-05-19 12:16:29
You UNC Trolls and hacks can deflect how much you want. The fact is the so-called Sabga report was buried by the then UNC government.
The issues surrounding it have re-surfaced following the Jones report of 2021.
Instead, the (UNC) government buried it in a massive State cover-up for which Ramsaran, then-PM Basdeo Panday, then-attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and the rest of the cabinet including current Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the then-legal affairs minister, must now account.
Until she explains her own inaction in 1997, Mrs Persad-Bissessar will lack the moral authority to castigate the Rowley government for its handling of the recent Justice Judith Jones report into children’s homes while her demand for justice for today’s abused children will ring hollow and reek of political opportunism.
Express Editorial May 16
Ramsaran and Ramesh Deosaran referenced the report in Parliament. It was never laid in Parliament in 1997.
Quoting an anonymous article in Sabga-owned Trinidad Guardian with responses/comments by the numerous UNC trolls paid by the UNC only serves to underline the desperation of your party to deflect away from what should not be a political issue.
Sabga continued, “The autopsy report on that boy went the same way as our report because the DNA of two of these individuals were found in his body at the time. I will say no more.”
In an attempt to justify his position and deflect, Sabga is re-hashing and politicizing the horrible Akiel Chambers case, liberally adding his own nonsense. The Sabga Report was completed and submitted in 1997. Akiel Chambers was murdered in 1998. DNA testing was not conducted here at that time. And all potential DNA samples were destroyed before our forensics here did it. There are no DNA samples to support Robert Sabga's lies.
sgtdjones
2022-05-19 13:10:24
In reply to notinsular
The Sabga report was referenced in 2002 by Independent Senator Ramesh Deosaran and Camille Robinson-Regis who are recorded in Hansard as saying;
Deosaran: “almost 5 years ago there was a report on children's homes, it is commonly called the Sabga Report. The gentleman who did the report under the then Ministry of Social Development was Mr Robert Sabga. I would suggest that the Minister look at that report carefully”.
Robinson-Regis: “In fact, that particular Sabga Report was used by the then Ministry of Social Development to examine all the issues as they related to the care of children. The issues that were raised in that report were very revealing in circumstances where our society had depended on a number of foster homes to ensure care for our young children and for children who had suffered abandonment by their families. That report did, in fact, inform quite a number of the policies that were developed during that period, especially as they related to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
Are you saying the first post about Hansard is wrong.?
sgtdjones
2022-05-19 13:24:55
In reply to notinsular
Quoting an anonymous article in Sabga-owned Trinidad Guardian with responses/comments by the numerous UNC trolls paid by the UNC only serves to underline the desperation of your party to deflect away from what should not be a political issue.
Can you provide facts to show they are trolls of political parties?
I have never voted in any T&T election, owing to the crooks on both parties.
I do not support either party.
Jumpstart
2022-05-19 14:08:04
In reply to sgtdjones
homie......the report was never laid in parliament. Prof Deosaran referenced it during a sitting of the senate as an independent senator. Deosaran says that he has never seen or read the report but had only heard about it through cabinet sources. That it was never laid in parliament means it is not in the library of the parliament and therefore it is extremely likely that outside of the social development ministry, that report is in the dark. Being referenced in a contribution recorded on hansard and being an official document laid in parliament and stored in the parliament's official library is a completely different matter.
notinsular
2022-05-19 15:53:23
In reply to sgtdjones
Can you provide facts to show they are trolls of political parties?
You are joking right? You seriously can't be unaware of the influence of Cambridge Analytica and the subsequent abuse of digital media by your party.
Those guys are prolific and so easily detectable. Many of them use "afro-sounding" names to make it appear that your party's multi-racial appeal is wider than it actually is.
Some of them have canned comments that change very little from article to article. You can often tell from the sheer volume of their posts.
Take for instance one of the commentators you used.. "Victor Newman" Although he is one of the least prolific, he probably averages only 5 or 6 posts a day (unlike the majority who do 20+ per day).
He's already chalked up 3,800 posts to Guardian articles. He has 21,000 likes to these articles. (they are instructed to "like" each others posts, and dislike posts that support the PNM's position on anything.)
Do you not find it a bit odd that comments that are anti pnm on average have a ratio of between 5-10 for like/Dislikes, meanwhile comments that are pro-PNM or anti-UNC have that same ratio for Dislikes/Likes.
Some Facebook ones are even easier. Fake profiles, fake names, no friends, no pictures etc.
sgtdjones
2022-05-19 18:23:11
In reply to notinsular
It is not surprising that Keith Rowley is focused on the Robert Sabga report commissioned 25 years ago rather than the Justice Jones report, outlining serious sexual and physical abuse occurring presently under the Children’s Authority.
This is clearly an attempt to deflect from the disclosure that high ranking PNM members were and are still involved in a paedophile ring.
The PNM is instead focused on smearing Robert Sabga and falsely claiming that the report produced by the Sabga led committee was somehow “buried”.
The idea that the report produced by Robert Sabga and the team was somehow a secretive document or was buried is a complete lie!
Minister Ramsaran has stated on Hansard that the Sabga Report was laid in Parliament. Rowley has been in parliament since 1987.
I have highlighted what was noted.
I am not a member of any sites such as Twitter, Facebook etc..
So I cannot comment on such.
I don't look at it from pro/con of any of the political parties in T&T . I dislike them all....
sgtdjones
2022-05-19 18:26:18
In reply to Jumpstart
homie......the report was never laid in parliament. Prof Deosaran referenced it during a sitting of the senate as an independent senator.
Read below..
The idea that the report produced by Robert Sabga and the team was somehow a secretive document or was buried is a complete lie!
Minister Ramsaran has stated on Hansard that the Sabga Report was laid in Parliament.
Robinson-Regis: “In fact, that particular Sabga Report was used by the then Ministry of Social Development to examine all the issues as they related to the care of children.
So Hansard is wrong?
notinsular
2022-05-19 18:49:53
In reply to sgtdjones
The people you quote are wrong.
As you know, Anna Ramdass of the express is effectively Kamla's Press secretary, yet even she today, had to write an article that must have stung her a thousand tiimes with every word:
THE 1997 Robert Sabga report into children's homes was not laid in the Parliament.
The Express contacted the Parliament on Tuesday and was told the report was not presented in the Parliament during the admission of former prime minister Basdeo Panday.
unfortunately this article is on page 7 of thee physical paper and paid digital editions.
Naturally (as of now) the Express does not include it in the free online version. They know where their bread is buttered. Remember the UNC was the party that gave envelopes with money at a Christmas Gala and HDC houses to Journalists during their tenure (anna ramdass being a notable HDC house recipient)
Anyway the article continues:
Sabga told the Express the report was never buried or sanitised, but was accepted by the Cabinet and recommendations implemented.
He claimed the report may have disappeared at the level of middle management at the ministries.
Because the report was referred to doesn't say squat. It was NOT laid in Parliament: I don't knoe who's giving you misinformation.
The same article in today's express continues:
Contacted on Tuesday, former social development minister Manohar Ramsaran said he could not recall if the report was laid in the Parliament.
sgtdjones
2022-05-19 18:59:22
In reply to notinsular
AS we debate to find the truth
Approx. 3 generations of kids were violated.
Instead of trying to solve this problem, the politicians blame each other.
I send tablets and funds to help such poor kids in T&T yearly.
The violation of any child hurts, especially at the taxpayer's expense.
Jumpstart
2022-05-19 19:27:30
In reply to sgtdjones
The idea that the report produced by Robert Sabga and the team was somehow a secretive document or was buried is a complete lie!
Minister Ramsaran has stated on Hansard that the Sabga Report was laid in Parliament.
The parliament is saying the report was never laid
Persad-Bissessar said that former social development minister Manohar Ramsaran has said on Hansard that the Sabga report was laid in Parliament. The Parliament has however told the Express the report was never laid.
Link Text
sgtdjones
2022-05-20 01:08:35
In reply to Jumpstart,notinsular
Gentlemen.... after reading this link , I am puzzled....
Ramesh: No time limit for action on Sabga report
It notes the following:
Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, who was attorney general in 1997, when the report was compiled, gave this opinion on Thursday.Maharaj did not remember whether or not the report was laid in Parliament 25 years ago.But he said, "Based on what I am reading on the newspapers, I believe if such a report was brought to my attention, I would have referred it to the police or to the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions)."
Maharaj said if a report like that contained serious allegations and identified wrongdoing which amounted to criminal offences, that was what should be done.
He added, "Even if that was not done then, nothing prevents that from being done now. There is no time limit to prevent a criminal prosecution like that from commencing.
Maharaj's former cabinet colleague Manohar Ramsaran, who was community development minister in 1997, was also uncertain whether the report was laid in Parliament.Once such reports are submitted, a specific minister's involvement with them ends when they go to Cabinet.The Sabga report, if laid in Parliament, would not have been laid by Ramsaran."The report was laid somewhere. I want to be honest with the public. My job was completed when the task force's work was completed."Ramsaran believed that comments made by different parliamentarians about the report over the last 25 years provided circumstantial evidence that they were privy to its contents. "We did not print many copies, but now look at how many have surfaced. Maybe it's a big cover-up? Maybe it's a big cover-up somewhere?"
Given the nature of local politics, Ramsaran wondered if this happened across several administrations since 1997.Ramsaran took some credit for the birth of the Children's Authority, from the legislation drafted in 1997 under the UNC.In this regard, he thought the Sabga report would have gone from the ministry to the relevant agencies for action.Mahabir-Wyatt is baffled why some people are saying the report cannot be found."I have seen the comments that were made in Hansard (the Parliament's official record) in relation to the report."She did not understand how parliamentarians could speak about the report if it had not been laid in Parliament."At no time was it a secret document. At no time, as far as I know, was it sanitized."But a Hansard copy of a finance committee report on June 2, 2006 had Ramsaran speaking about it, while he was an opposition MP."When that committee visited homes, they found children being abused and the managers of these homes tried everything to prevent the committee from going into these buildings."
Now see why I avoid T&T politics, the blame game as kids suffered. How can such a study be done and just disappear?
